Cindys Palace

Dim sum is great here! Everything taste really good. I usually go here with my friends and family and everyone always likes it. Reasonable price and good sized portions. I really love the special baked bbq pork buns from there, so good! Will keep on going there!

Cheap and decent Dim Sum, specials on weekdays. Can get really busy if you arrive after 11am. Food is ok, service is ok.

First night here in Vancouver and this was one of the closes restaurant by the house so we decided to give it a try. When first walk in, it feels cozy like your typical everyday family restaurant. Right away you can feel the Chinese ambiance and know you gonna get some real Chinese cooks back there.
The service is great and polite from a chinese restaurant. We also get free soup and it was always great, NO MSG. The free dessert at the end was not bad either, not too sweet so you can eat plenty. The price is also fair which made us came back the second time around.
We have order many items form the menu and also ask for their most popular as well of their recommendation. We have ate here twice and as well for dim sum, so I can give them a fair review. The food was not great nor was it bad. As said your typical chinese restaurant and it does fit my taste. Not too salty nor oily. The price is also fair so I would eat here on a daily basis if I lived in Vancouver.

Woohoo!!! Cindys palace is an explosion of flavorful experiences in my mouth!

Came here for dimsum on a Sunday morning. Luckily we made a reservation for 10:30am. It wasn’t that busy when I arrived but by 11am the place was packed and there was a line.
The restaurant isn’t very big so I would recommend making a reservation for dimsum.
Food was pretty good here. The dimsum portions were pretty large for the most part. Everything we ordered was tasty. But one stand-​out item for me: Sesame Balls with black sesame paste. They were a great dessert item to end our meal. It was a perfect crisp on the outside and oozing with sesame paste on the inside. It’s a must try!
Service was okay. They messed up our tea and kept forgetting to bring our hot sauce. But overall, a very good place for dim sum. I’ll have to come back and try their dinner menu as well!

After hearing about this place from friends, we finally tried it a couple of weeks ago for dim sum.
The staff were all friendly and attentive and our lunch was amazing. We had a big lunch for 2 people and brought home enough for dinner for under $ 30.00.
I brought another friend for dim sum last week and he loved it, too.
Our lunch, with enough to take a few pieces home, was around $ 15.00.
After too many years at the big dim sum houses with attitude, lineups and over the top prices, Cindy’s Palace is perfect.

Best black sesame balls in town. Eat in, don’t take out.
Yup, that’s the review. Best.

Very welcoming place. The staff are very friendly and great with giving recommendations. The food didn’t ‘wow’ me, but it was good enough. Larger portions than a lot of the similar places I’ve been to. Quick service.

BEWARE: I speak fluent Canto, and they still had trouble understanding me, although they had no problem understanding all the grannies there for super early morning dim sum. Order at ur own risk.
They have 20% off dim sum every weekday from 9am-​3pm and no extra cost for tea (which was a life saver since they got our tea wrong twice).
The only thing to be wary of is that the curry squid has some hard bits in it (maybe not cleaned thoroughly?). Also, some of their dumpling have really thick and soggy skin (only some, not all. Test your luck).
Did I mention lots of street parking?

This has been our families go to Chinese restaurant this past year. Dim sum is the usual fare for our nom nom meetings here. This time I got to try dinner! Quite amazed. Tried the prawns in tea leaves and I actually enjoyed eating the tea leaves more than the prawns. Overall to food was solid and the staff very friendly. Even though I don’t speak Cantonese it was easy for me to understand them. It’s been worth the trip to eat here and yes, I will come back again!

I would give this a lower star if I could, this has to be the worst customer service experience I’ve ever had. We ordered pea tips from the set menu, they wanted to charge us extra for it which they had no rights to. After we refuse, the came back to tell us that they magically ran out of peat tips. The two waitress was extremely bitchy to top it off and practically change the order for us.
We had a large party and the room the stuck us in was stuffy and dirty, the utensils seems like it’s been there forever and was dirty and dusty. Food was not appealing. Would not recommend.

I went here recently for a business lunch and was pleasantly surprised.
I have lived close to this area for some time and had no idea that this place existed!
Cindy’s Palace is situated in a residential area and has an unassuming exterior. Although renovated, it could use another modern facelift, but no amount of renovation will change the low ceilings.
I can only comment on dim sum since I have not been for dinner, and I have to say that it is quite worthy of a visit, simply for its value. The bill came to ~$ 80 for 7 people, and we gorged ourselves on shrimp dumplings, veggie dumplings, pea shoots, noodles, turnip cake, scallop and shrimp dumplings, pork dumpling, mango pudding, and their sesame ball dessert (highly recommended btw). We had leftovers to take away and although I would avoid the pork /​football dumpling next time, I would definitely revisit!

Boy, some of the reviews here seem so harsh.
For a value dim sum meal this is the place. They are known for their GIANT pork dumplings. My friend likes the chicken feet, plenty of meat. Hot and sour soup could use a little more punch but still good. I really like the black sesame dessert, a deep fried black sesame covered ball of hot gooey black sesame inside. Shrimp dumpling is comparably larger than most and very flavorful. Garlic pork ribs were very good in that there was not much fat and it came off the bone easily. Maybe not the best deep fried taro dumpling but at least it wasn’t greasy. All they need to do is season the filling a little more. Dim sum is discounted on weekdays if you eat before 3pm. You can still order dim sum after 3. We did both and found no difference in food size, quality, etc.
Had some take out food, too, which is good and you get a 10% discount for pick-​ups over $ 10.
Aside from the bargain factor, the food is fairly decent and better than most Chinese restaurants in the nearby vicinity. I didn’t get the MSG hit that I get at most Chinese restaurant so I like that they may use less or no MSG.
Service has always been top-​notch the 3 times we were there. If I had a choice for family meals I prefer to come here than our regular Pelican Chinese restaurant. Pelican is a hit and miss and I’m tired of the misses.

The portions are big compared to other dim sum places. Quality is a hit and miss as the popular dishes (shrimp, pork, etc) are good but the other dishes are ok. It is usually busy here so if you have a big group, I’d recommend making reservations.
They are usually accommodating as we had a group of 10 but some others came so at the end, we had 14 ppl. The food comes out fast so get ready to eat or order some more if first round of food wasn’t enough. My friends are regulars there as they like it a lot.
All in all, still good for what you get.

Good portions, reasonable price — a Chinese family staple. Recommendations:
— shrimp and pork dumplings. Big and meaty portion.
— taro root. Crispy/​delish
— everything else is decently good
3.5÷5 — yah, I would come back!

Feels pretty homey and comfortable when you walk in, not loud at all — up until about 11am. We arrived at around 10am so it was still pretty quiet with no line up.
I noticed the dated carpet… but I’m guessing the carpet is what makes the restaurant feel more «home-​y» — as if you’re eating at someone’s house, so I didn’t mind it too much.
I’ve had better egg tarts at other places, but I have to say that their baked tapioca dessert with red bean REALLY hit the spot for me! Highly recommend!

Saturday Dim Sum with my feasting friends — Cindys has some very good dishes, and some not so good.
The fresh baby squid (not deep fried) was top notch. Tiny, tender and tasty! Cindys fried rice was very good, with small pieces of Chinese sausage adding sweet spiciness. Green beans with minced pork and chill was very mild, but passable, as the beans were crisp.
Sweet and sour boneless chicken with pineapple was tangy with fresh pineapple and sweet, crisp onions. Very nice.
The standout was the mochi with daikon; ask for red and yellow sauce to heat it up slightly. The coconut and mango jello dish was not a hit!
Three stars because our server argued with us about a dessert choice. I realize staff were setting up for a very large group about to arrive, and Lady Boss was getting her panties in a knot, but for heaven’s sake, try to maintain some control over your emotions. We spoke very directly with the server about this issue, and he did improve.
Located on Nanaimo with lots of street parking, and a small lot in the back.

Venturing into the Hastings-​Sunrise area, our Chinese dining crew tried this house-​like, neighbourhood eatery. They offered some fun, interesting (but safe) twists to a few Chinese dish staples. This included the found the lamb and fish hot pot fairly tasty, full various meats and veggies.
I refrained from the steamed winter melon with vegetables due to my melon aversion but could not deny its pretty look and presentation. The pan fried vermicelli noodles with beef in black bean sauce was delectable and went down well. I liked the mix and delightful plating.
The deep fried shrimp cakes, spring rolls, pork dumplings, special fried rice, sesame balls were all fairly solid, and less so, the baked pumpkin pastries (which looked nice).
Nicely served in an edible basket was the spicy pork jowl. It was flavourful and delicious but had far too many onions and not enough pork. I always enjoy deep fried squid and they were impossible not to chomp on constantly, salted with a light spicy taste. The stir fried chicken on rice in a large basket was solid and massive.
We found the stir fried prawns with tea leaves by far the most decorative dish, served in a neat basket type holder. The prawns themselves were standard and fair. Another interestingly presented dish was the steamed spare ribs cooked and served in a whole pumpkin. They were also more than decent with a light pumpkin flavour.
Thus far, I have less than enjoyed any creative twists on traditional Chinese dishes and gravitate to the more traditional stuff. However, I found Cindys and their small twists on dishes not only fun, but appetizing. Most of the food was improved with great presentation in addition to being served cleanly. The service was friendly and prompt. I enjoyed it and found it a nice change from the more standard, usual offerings.

Cindys (yes they are missing an apostrophe) is a really charming Not sure if I’d call it a hole in the wall, as they have their own building. The owner (whose name is actually Cindy) mentioned they used to run Golden Phoenix down the street, until deciding to sell it off and open their current restaurant. So for the record, these are 2 completely separate establishments.
Parking is available both on the street, as well as in the rear where there are several spots.
During weekdays, dim sum here is 20% off. Saw the poster.
The staff were friendly (actually a little bit *too* friendly, just like Kenneth E. mentioned, but A for effort). It is true, they are a bit too eager to pick up your finished dishes. But I’d much rather have this happen than the opposite (aka nonexistent service).
Another special mention is that the staff let us in 15 minutes before closing, knowing we were sit-​in. The place was deserted too, so they kept a couple of staff on hand just for us. Not many places will do this. One of the guys kept trying to stay awake while watching a Chinese drama. I’m sure his shift ended right about the time we showed up.
The interior is mostly vinyl paneling, with some dark wood accents. To be honest, the 1^st thing that this place reminded me of was Burnaby Palace nearby (their current location on Boundary, not the old one that’s now gone). It’s actually pretty decent, though it screamed «renovation» to me.
How was the food? Simply excellent. The food was served piping hot. Even the congee was bubbling in the clay pot when served. I haven’t see this outside of Asia at all. The deep fried smelt were crispy yet soft (dense Styrofoam came to mind), and the oil was surprisingly clear.
I really hope the owners do well here. Seems like they work hard and put a lot of effort into making quality food. Recommended.

When it came to Chinese food I thought I had seen it all. I was wrong.
I went during dim sum hours with a family friend (an «uncle» in the loose Asian sense of the word). I say «dim sum hours» because while we had some dim sum, you will see from the pictures that what we had was more of a dinner menu than anything. Therefore, I think this serves as both a dinner and dim sum review.
The «uncle» is one of the restaurant’s loyal patrons who followed the owner from the old location. So here is what I heard about the ownership gossip and rumors referred to in the other reviews. Cindy’s Palace is indeed owned by the same owner of the old Golden Pheonix a few blocks down. After having poured in the a ton of money on renovations in the old location, the landlord forced them out, and in its place now is «Phoenix Garden» (likely taken over by said landlord). Now seeing as it would likely confuse customers, instead of calling the new place Golden Phoenix, with Phoenix Garden down the road, the owners renamed it Cindy’s Palace. The new place is certainly thriving, which speaks to their loyal following, while in contrast, as I drove by the Phoenix Garden, it looked comparatively quiet there. Karma?
But I digress. The dim sum portions were plenty big without looking like unnatural mutations of the original (I’m looking at you Western Lake). The fried dim sum dishes weren’t that greasy. In short, reliable dim sum. Can’t really go wrong here. The dim sum comes out in trays for the most part because the carts don’t have the space to manuever real well. Yes, as Michael C. mentioned, the sales people can be a little aggressive, taking any small sign of acknowledgment of their existence as confirmation of an order so be sure to stop them before they stamp your card. The flip side of this is that service is attentive, and I’d rather have that than the opposite — they constantly replace your dish if it starts piling with bones, are quick to refill tea, and are easy to get a hold of to handle any other requests.
Where the restaurant soared were the entrees. My «uncle» is a hardcore chinese foodie. He can tell if a fish brought to him has been sitting in a tank for a few days, as opposed to freshly caught and cooked (he insists of the latter, and has sent food back when it wasn’t to his liking. Something about the texture of the meat, the way the bones look, and the eyes). He can tell if a dish has been refried for a second or third time to make it look «fresh» — this happens often with dim sum. He can tell if the spinach tips dish uses quality oil. All things I have no eye for. So the fact that he gives this place a thumbs up is big for me. To be fair, all Chinese places will take shortcuts, as you have to keep the costs down somehow.
As for the entrees I had a number of relatively unconventional dishes. First the lobster with noodles in cream sauce (pictured). Awesome. Haven’t had that in years. Highly recommend for a group that wants to try something new. Now it isn’t the quality of your traditional New England Lobster (but then again, what is), but with the cream sauce it was almost something completely different. Lobsters were cracked and prepared in a way that you could pick them out easily with a pick tool they had for each person. The noodles were fantastic.
Then we had spare ribs in black bean sauce. Sure thats normal for Dim Sum. But here is the twist. It was served in a Japanese pumpkin (pictured). Where else have you seen this? In my case, no where else. The pumpkin went real well with the ribs.
We also had a scallop and egg white dish, surrounded by broccoli (pictured). Never had that before either. Blander than the other dishes but that’s what we needed to break things up. Tasted real healthy.
The dessert I’ve never had either. Googling has identified it as steamed red bean tapioca cake (pictured), and tapioca caked with steamed yellow mung bean paste. Warm, soft, ridiculously good. And I usually hate Chinese desserts.
As for the more conventional dishes we also had rock cod (pictured). Now I can’t tell if its wild, but I know it tasted great and was delicious. The spinish tips were bright green and wonderful. I was too full to have any of the fried crab.
So these were basically dinner entrée items. If you like the dim sum here, I recommend coming to give dinner a try too. Now, as I wasn’t doing the ordering and don’t know what the entrée items read like in English, you should bring these photos along with you and just show it to them if you want to have it!
I bumped the review down to 4 stars out of caution. While I thought the food was top notch, I am left wondering if that was only the case because I went with my uncle. Would it be just as good if I went with a younger group of friends who aren’t loyal Cantonese speaking customers and aren’t as savvy about food? Who knows.